


A Glow In The Darkness

by Ninlynn



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Adventure, After, Alvarez Teikoku Hen | Alvarez Empire Arc (Fairy Tail), Character Growth, F/M, Fluff, Gruvia - Freeform, Humor, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, I Don't Even Know, Just making this up as I go, Kinda, Lucy trains for a year, More Magic, Nalu - Freeform, Natsu looks for lucy, Plot, Protective Natsu Dragneel, Some angst, Stronger Lucy, guild misses lucy, lucy leaves, powerful lucy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-11-12 01:21:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18001103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ninlynn/pseuds/Ninlynn
Summary: Lucy always wanted to get stronger, to feel like her peers. However she would always fall short. What if the celestial wizard wanted to change that? Taking a page out of Natsu's book, that's exactly what she did. A year to train couldn't hurt right?Just how is her guild going to feel though? Most importantly, her team?





	A Glow In The Darkness

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope you enjoy! I tend to get nervous posting on this platform, so I hope I can change that by writing a bit!

It all started with a question. Lucy stared at Gray with the strangest face she could give him. Of course, a lot of her guildmates would throw stupid questions around, but this one really irked her. Biting her lip, she replied with the obvious answer.

“Of course not! Why in the heck would I do that?”

Gray rolled his eyes and looked like he was about to slam his head inside a wall. “Lucy that’s not what I meant. What I was trying to say was, since you’re a popular writer now, don’t you not have the time to be going on major time-consuming missions?”

Lucy frowned and thought for a moment. Now if Gray had said that from the beginning, instead of sounding like he was trying to kick Lucy off the team, he would have probably gotten a nicer answer. “Well most likely I won’t be able to go on as many missions as I usually do but, I’m not going to stop entirely.” Lucy replied thoughtfully, then added. “Besides, I still need to pay for rent you know.”

“Aww, and here I thought Lucy would be rich and have money to buy tons of fish!” Declared a familiar blue cat as he neared the table, a clear sign a pink haired someone was nearby. 

“Yeah not going to happen!” The blond huffed stubbornly. “Besides, even if I was rich, unlike you, I wouldn’t spend all my money on food!” 

“Ah so you’re not rich Luce? I really thought after all that writing of yours would’ve paid off.” A familiar voice stated behind her. Turning around, the celestial wizard had no doubt who it would be. A smile glowed under a cascade of shadows riveting down his face. 

A glow in the darkness. 

“Natsu.’’ Was all she could say. The shadows lifted from the dragon slayers face, as he shifted to sit next to Lucy at the table. “So, what were you guys going on about? I could feel the tension all the way across the guild.”

Gray was the first to speak. “I was just talking about how Lucy is going to be busy, especially with her writing career.” Natsu oblivious, not giving a thought to the situation blinked. “What does that have to do with anything?”

Lucy opened her mouth, but Gray beat her to the chase. “What that means dumbass, is that she can’t go on as many tasks anymore.”

“WHAT?!”  
“Now hold on here!” Lucy demanded, but Natsu was in distress. “Lucy you can’t be serious right? We can’t go on missions without you! It wouldn’t be the same!” 

From across the guild a voice rose among the others. “WHAT? YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!” 

A familiar redhead arose from the crowd, interested at the scene before them. Barging through, Erza made her way to the table her team resided at. 

“Lucy, you’re not quitting are team, are you?” The glint in her eye was more than menacing.

Lucy gawked. “No way! If people let me speak then maybe they would hear what I had to say for once!” She huffed with annoyance. “I’m not quitting! I just can’t go on that many quests as before!”

“I see.” Erza stated, calming down. “Then perhaps you could explain what you were conversating then?” 

Lucy scrunched her eyebrows and looked at her team for a second. “I thought I just did? Like Gray said, its going to be harder to go on longer missions, because of writing. However, that doesn’t mean I’m stopping entirely! I can still go on quests with you guys.”  
Lucy thought that was the right answer, however Natsu seemed crestfallen. She was about to ask what was wrong, but a blue-headed crazy, caught sight of her beloved. 

“GRAY-SAMA MY LOVE!” Juvia declared as she rushed over, trampling everything in her sight. The demon ice slayer barely had time to move before he was engulfed into a Juvia hug. 

Long ago, Gray would’ve run away from such an interaction but now it seemed natural. Without even flinching, Gray greeted her without second thought. “Oh, hey Juvia, what’s up?”

Juvia bustling with joy from the common greeting, blushed and poked her foot at the ground. “Juvia seems to have found a perfect job for her beloved. Would you like to see it?” Not even giving a second thought, the man grabbed the parchment and read the request. As he scanned over the paper, his eyes grew wider as he read down the page.

“What is it?” Erza asked as she tried to glimpse the page from behind the Ice-Mage. 

“It’s a specific request for me.” Gray replied. “Apparently some guy needs help getting rid of bandits causing trouble in an ice village on the other side of Fiore.” 

“How strange.” Erza commented as she grabbed the paper from Gray’s hands, earning a glare. “I wonder-”  
“Wonder what? The guy requested for me, and it pays a lot.” 

“Yes but-” She paused for a moment. “The person who requested this, could’ve called any ice user, and yet they request you.”

“And? What about it?’

“Doesn’t that seem a little sketchy? This village is on the other side of Fiore. Even more so, closer to Lamia Scale, who has an Ice-Make Mage of their own.”

“Yes but- Wait what does Lyon have to do with anything?” Gray questions slightly frustrated. 

“Lyon is an Ice-Make user, isn’t he? He’s closer to this village than anyone else, and yet they request you, who’s further away.”

“So, you think it’s a trap?” Lucy questioned offhand. 

“Exactly, and since the reward is quite hefty- I think there’s no doubt about it.”

“OOOH how much does it pay?” Natsu asked, most likely having nothing but food on his mind. 

“That’s not important. What’s important is that it could be a trap.” 

“Even if there’s a risk it’s a trap, I can handle myself.” Gray stated slightly annoyed. Erza sighed. “Fine. If your still persistent on going on this quest. At least bring someone with you.” 

Before Gray can even speak, Juvia hopped to the challenge. “OH, GRAY PICK ME!” 

“Hey.” Natsu spoke up. “why doesn’t Lucy go with you then?”

Gray looked like he was about to whack the pink haired dragon. “Didn’t you hear her before? She’s busy with her books.” Lucy rubbed the back of her neck. “Well even though that’s the case, it doesn’t mean I’m not willing to join you.” She replied. 

“Not even a chance! Juvia would never let her rival be alone with her Gray! NEVER!” The water mage proclaimed as she grabbed her lovers’ arm possessively. “Besides he needs someone with more experience.”

“Can you not make it sound like that?” Gray mumbled annoyed.  
Lucy’s eyebrow twitched. “Wait, what do you mean by more experienced?” 

Juvia started to look quite regretful at the comment for some reason. “Oh, Lucy don’t take this as any offence, but everyone knows you’re the weakest link in your group. Not that as a combined team you’re not strong, very far from it, but independently your strength doesn’t compare to your other teammates.”

Everyone in the guild looked stunned. However, Juvia continued, “You’ve gotten stronger Lucy, so please don’t let this bother you too much, but you’re still a far leap from being close to your friends. It’s just, a lot of us have been practicing our magic for longer then you have, and right now in this situation, we don’t need two people getting stuck in a trap. I hope you understand.” 

There was udder silence throughout the guild. However, the silence was pierced by the deadly glare directed at Juvia.

Natsu slowly rose from his seat and slammed his hands on the table. 

“Don’t ever underestimate Lucy.” 

Juvia’s form wavered as she backed away. “Juvia never said she did.” She hushed under her breath in slight fear. “Juvia was only stating how she didn’t think Lucy was the right one for the task at hand!”  
“I said- DON’T EVER UNDERESTIMATE LUCY!”

“Natsu- its ok.” Lucy cut in.

Everyone’s attention turned to the celestial wizard. She didn’t look any different, but her face was stone. Natsu looked ready to protest, when Lucy continued. 

“Juvia only stated the truth. I’m not as strong as the rest of you. Even though I have gotten stronger, I still have room to grow. And she’s right, I don’t think I would be much help for Gray anyway, especially if there’s a trap involved. The best I can do is get stronger right? So that’s what I’ll keep on doing.” With that, she pushed away from the table and walked out of the guild.

Everyone broke into uproar. Did Juvia really say that? Why does Erza look like she wanted to murder? Where did Natsu go? Why was Gray just standing there? There was a ton of questions and no one knew how to shut up. 

Happy flew over to Carla who was on the sidelines of the scene. “Hey Carla?” 

“Yes Happy?” 

“Do you think Lucy is going to be ok?” 

“I don’t know.” 

The last thing that was decided, was Gray was going to go on his mission alone.


End file.
